New rail bridge installed in Dartford: Southeastern services limited over Easter

03/04/2021 0 Comments

A program to replace a railway bridge just west of Dartford station has been underway since yesterday with a replacement structure slotted into place this morning.

Network Rail are replacing the bridge which means no through trains until Tuesday.

Part of the temporary worksite is on a spot where a housing block has been approved:

Currently used as storage space for bridge replacement

Aerial photos show changes north of Dartford station in recent years. On one side thousands of new homes have either been built, or are underway. The other side still has vast, wasteful retail sheds and car parks.

Courtesy Google. Bridge in red just west of station. Masses of tarmac and retail sheds to south of station & tracks

Get new homes there, extend all Metro services to 12-car where possible and a transport friendly development would be achieved. It’d also help boost Dartford town centre, which has struggled for so long after Bluewater opened. However, cohesive planning for new homes and transport isn’t exactly well practised in this country, so wasteful brownfield land remains.

A capacity uplift from additional carriages should suffice until Crossrail is extended. Southeastern often ran trains of 8-10 carriages, while Thameslink ran just 8 despite many stations being upgraded to take 12. Southeastern’s new stock due to be introduced later this year is also limited to 10.

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